neWs - The Commons

18 The Commons • May 2010
The Commons • May 2010 THE ARTS 19
The Arts
n Horizontal art from page 1
Arts have proposed a glass mosaic
installation.
Sealed slabs of art
Artists would have access to slabs
ranging in size from four by four and
5 by 6 feet to possibly combining contiguous
pieces.
“It can’t be slippery or have sharp
edges,” Barrett said, “and it has to be
sealed so it will last.”
“We’re talking about using park
benches and trash receptacles too that
we would purchase anyway for artists
to create on,” he explained, “and we
replace slabs of sidewalk any given day
of the week.”
In 2007, the town arts committee
was formed, and the Selectboard
formally approved a public art policy,
encouraging work that is “accessible,”
“enriches the town,” and “may include
permanent visual art, performances,
installations, events and other temporary
works.”
Barrett has been involved since
the beginning of that process and is
oversees public art projects after their
Selectboard approval.
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“Years ago, we had an artist come
to town and put these bird cage-like
structures in the trees in a park that
I worked with,” he said. “Last year,
I oversaw the portraits along High
Street. I’m all for art using public
works.”
“It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
The artist gets exposure and
compensation for their art. Public art
benefits the town by making it unique
incorporating artwork into a Public
Works structure,” Barrett said.
Already in the budget
“I’ve always loved the idea of public
art,” said Jones, who “wears several
hats” as artist, teacher, and musician
and said he was randomly assigned to
the public arts group at the January
charrette hosted by the town arts
committee [The Commons, February].
He has been involved for many
years in creating interactive public art
installations in Ireland, Australia and
the United States.
Jones uses as much recycled material
as he can and has harnessed wind
to create music from whistling through
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Artist and musician Garry Jones with one of his interactive art installations. As a result of a
“town meeting” of local artists last winter, Jones has worked with the Brattleboro town arts
committee and public works staff to offer creative works of art to stand in the place of cracked
sidewalks.
his pieces.
“I have an underground piece in
Ireland in New Grange that channels
wind down into a chamber beneath
the earth to create [musical] notes,”
he explained.
Jones also created an “interactive
wind installation” at the Inspire
School for Autism in Brattleboro that
he helped the students design and then
he put together. “The students can actually
play and interact with the wind
themselves,” Jones said.
In discussing the challenges of funding
public art at the charette, “it was
brought up that the town already buys
park benches and trash cans, and that
they replace sidewalks as an ongoing
thing,” he said.
“They were already there, so the
funding was not an issue.”
“I really liked the idea of using
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sidewalks as a sort of ‘horizontal’ art
opportunity for inspired artists to be
able to create a unique piece of art,
maybe out of glass but almost any
material as long as it falls within the
sidewalk codes,” Jones said.
“I brought it before the TAC and
they liked the idea,” Jones said.
Jones and his idea “serves as a prime
example of a citizen with ideas coming
to a public meeting, offering ideas,
and TAC then serving its purpose of
liaison for the arts to the town,” TAC
member Anderson said.
“There’s no shortage of cracked
sidewalk,” Jones said after he surveyed
possible locations for the ‘horizontal
art’ project around downtown.
“There’s a lot to do here,” he said.
“Public art is just an extension of
what’s all ready here made visible. We
wear the arts on our sleeve,” he said
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with a laugh.
“People always want to be photographed
in front of the [painted]
moose in Bennington,” Jones said. “As
public art happens more and more
here in Brattleboro, people will come
just for that. Visitors want art. They
want something fun to see.”
“But it’s about the environment for
locals, too. Public art is fun and adds
depth to the community,” Jones said.
“The vetting process will be interesting,”
he said thoughtfully, hoping
that the process of “who decides and
what the guidelines are” will avoid
choosing art from the lowest common
denominator, “which means boring,
uninteresting art.”
“I’d love to see Brattleboro just bristling
with public art,” he said.
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Above: Dory Hamm, a former New England Youth Theatre actor, with his Theatrino crew and Italian
schoolchildren. Right: Sam Perry, another NEYT alumnus, manipulates fire.
NEYT alumni spread theater
experiences near and far
By Joel Eisenkramer
The Commons
BRATTLEBORO—The rise of the
New England Youth Theatre (NEYT)
has been a dream fulfilled for those
who have watched the theater go from
rehearsing in a cramped basement
space to its flashy new arts complex
at 100 Flat Street.
The effects of this theater seed
planted by Steven Stearns in 1998
have enlivened the local arts community.
The theater has also sowed new
performing opportunities for youth
near and far.
The theater keeps close ties with
all those involved throughout the
various stages of its development. As
a rallying call to regroup and reconnect,
an NEYT alumni show is in the
works: a production of Clue organized
by Callahan and fellow alumni Nick
Bombicino.
In August, alumni-led workshops
will feature activities like one-act plays,
general acting classes, and maybe a
Shakespeare play.
“NEYT gave me the ensemblebased
skills needed to collaborate
with other artists. Our experiences
there were crucial in showing us that
we could create theatre of our own,”
said Sam Perry.
The NEYT alumnus and graduate
of Boston University’s Actor’s
Conservatory is involved in a number
of different performance groups.
Boston is the destination for many
of the area’s talented youth as it holds
the contingency for the coveted holy
grail of the artistic career path: making
a living from one’s art.
Perry is a founding member of the
Grasshopper Collective, which specializes
in the manipulation of fire
using objects like staffs, hula hoops,
poi (balls attached to lengths of
rope which are then twirled in complex
patterns during a dance), and
marionettes.
The marionettes that the group
uses are unlikely characters fashioned
out of chains and bits of metal which
are then set ablaze to popular techno
dance beats.
Gateway to Shakespeare
Likewise, fellow NEYT alumni Ben
Stockman is furthering his theatre
education in Boston; he is finishing
up a thesis and his first full-length
screenplay at nearby Lesley University.
Stockman is an intern with
the Commonwealth Shakespeare
Company, a nonprofit “dedicated
to performing the works of William
Shakespeare in vital and contemporary
productions,” according to the
troupe’s website.
“[The Commonwealth Shakespeare
Company] considered me because
of my extensive experience with performing
Shakespeare,” Stockman
said. “If NEYT hadn’t gotten me
started in performing Shakespeare
at such an early stage of my development,
I would not be working with
them today.”
Meanwhile, NEYT alumnus Dory
Hamm has brought his homegrown
skills onto the world stage through
the Theatrino Theater In Education
program in Italy.
Theatrino teaches English language
skills to children ages 6 to 18 by means
of fairy tales and short skits.
“Kids are the greatest audience,”
says Hamm, explaining that after honing
his theatrical chops with NEYT,
Theatrino was a logical way to return
to the roots of his education in
performance — and make money as
a performer just out of college while
touring Europe with a professional
acting company.
For Shoshana Bass, also one of the
first wave of proteges, the idea of performing
for a wide variety of audiences
is crucial to the real utility of theatre
in the global setting.
Enrolled in the Buddhist-inspired
Naropa University in Boulder, Colo.,
she focuses on a combination of performance
arts and peace studies
through the school’s interdisciplinary
course structure.
“My path is really shifting to questioning
why I am a performer and
[I’m] finding that the answer has to
do with building bridges, dialogue,
and stirring audiences out of apathy,”
Bass said.
“The experience of creating a safe
space for the creativity, building a
community, seeing one’s self within
a web of relationships that are connected,
and exploring/befriending
the self with witnesses — these are
all vital elements to peace-building
that [NEYT] have also honed in me,”
she added.
Full circle
Alumna Jessica Callahan has taken
her bachelor of fine arts from Boston
University and certificate in arts
management from the University
of Massachusetts and is reinvesting
that education in the Brattleboro
arts scene.
For the publicity and marketing director
of NEYT, that means postering,
writing press releases, recording
ads at the radio stations, and buying
and trading print advertising.
“Partnerships are really important
for building an ’arts town,’ which is
what we’re trying to do,” Callahan
said.
“We want to turn the whole area
around the theater into an arts campus,”
Callahan said. “So far, we’re
planning on renting a space to Natalie
Blake, a local glassblower, and the
Brattleboro Music Center is thinking
about moving in. We also provide
gallery space and projects for InSight
Photography students.”
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